Pam: What? Nobody is deaf or blind. Everybody knows there's something going
on around here. Alright. "Go back to your desk, Pammy. It's all that you're good
for."

Stephanie: (Sighs)

(Door closes)

Brooke: I didn't really think you would need a letter of resignation. I'm
sure none of you expected me to be back here.

Stephanie: Is somebody being served with legal papers?

Eric: What, legal papers? What is this, Brooke? What's going on?

Brooke: Eric, I invited you here because you've never not been on my side.
When everybody else deserted me, you were there for me, and I will always be
thankful of that. But I think it's fair to say that you were wrong, because all
of those things that I did, those foul things that I was accused of, I think
they're partly true, and I only deceived you because I was deceiving myself. I'm
sorry. I need to change my life and I've asked all of you here because I want to
explain to you how I'm going to do that.

Whip: I thought I'd given up hope.

Owen: What, for you and Taylor?

Whip: No, I just... it wasn't until this moment that I... I didn't realize
that I-I-I had still been hoping.

Whip: (Sighs) Well, you know what? I got one thing to say. He better not
invite me to the wedding.

Jackie: (Clicks tongue) (Sighs) Nicky, why did Stephanie choose to confide
that tidbit of news to you specifically?

Nick: Us people with spots on our lungs stick together.

Jackie: Oh, stop. Did she think it would be of particular interest?

Nick: If you know enough to ask the question, then you already know the
answer, Mother.

Jackie: Well?

Whip: Uh, sorry. Fuzzy. You lost me.

Owen: Uh, Brooke.

Whip: Broo--Brooke and you?

Jackie: On some level, it is true, isn't it? You never really got over
Brooke, no matter how hard you tried with other women.

Nick: Well, that's one way to rewrite history, Mother.

Jackie: Oh, you loved her. You understood her more than anyone to come into
her life after Ridge-- her words, not mine.

Whip: You and Brooke? Well... well, damn. It seems that everybody's changing
partners.

Eric: I'm being kept in the dark here. I don't like this. Thomas... why is
your mother here? What does she have to do with this?

Stephanie: She's his mother. What other reason does she need?

Taylor: I was asked to be here, same as you.

Eric: No, I-I-I'm talking to Thomas. Experience tells me not to trust what
the two of you have to say about Brooke. You know something, Thomas. I want to
know what it is.

Ridge: Dad, you really need to trust me on this. You gotta back off.

Eric: Back off what? She's talking about retiring, changing her life. She's
given as much to this company as anybody else. I think I'm the one who's in the
position to--

Brooke: Eric, stop it. I did what they said I would do. Please, don't defend
me. I can't take it anymore.

Eric: What who said you would do?

Taylor: I think she means me.

Eric: And what is it that she's done that you said she would do?

Taylor: (Sighs) Your grandson.

Brooke: Eric... (Sighs) It's not what you think. I-I'm not making excuses
when I say I wasn't myself. I ate these berries on the island that were
hallucinogenic. Dr. Lewis knows what they were. And Thomas told me not to. He
said they'd be poisonous. It would be better if they were.

Eric: You and Thomas?

Brooke: No. I-I have no recollection of it.

Eric: Then how do you know what happened?

Brooke: Thomas remembers. I know. I know. "Sexual predator"-- I've had those
words flung at me so many times through the years, I think I stopped hearing
them. You were right all along, Taylor... and you, too, Stephanie. You always
taught me the way to heal myself is by healing others. I'm going to keep the
house, of course, and the children's trust funds. I know there will be a
penalty, but the 401(k) Will pay for our living expenses. And the rest I'm
putting into a private foundation.

Ridge: Logan, wait a minute. What is this?

Stephanie: Wait a minute. You've got three children here.

Taylor: You just can't stop grandstanding, can you, Brooke?

Brooke: I'm not grandstanding. It's a way to get my self-respect back, and
there's no better way than helping others who are struggling with their lives.
That's what I'm going to do. That gives me purpose.

Ridge: What is this private foundation?

Stephanie: Wait a minute. If you do something like this, you can't even
access your own money.

Brooke: No, I know. It doesn't matter, Stephanie. That's not the point. But
my lawyer made it all very simple, and he just asked me, what did I want to name
the foundation? And I told him I wanted to name it after... someone who most
inspired me.

Taylor: The Stephanie Forrester foundation.

Brooke: I want to do something that matters. (Sighs) I want to do something
like you've done. I never felt more useful than the time when I was on the
streets with you, working at the mission, at the shelter. I want to work with
you again, Stephanie.

Stephanie: No, it's not possible.

Brooke: Why?

Stephanie: Because it's just not. Besides, you don't have any commitment to
this sort of work.

Eric: Well, you didn't either a year ago.

Stephanie: I won't have you piggybacking on what I've accomplished, okay? I'm
not gonna be party to some public spectacle of your penance. And I'm not gonna
be involved while you try and soften Ridge up. I just don't want to be part of
any of that.

Brooke: No, no. (Sighs) I-know it may seem that way, but I-I think I
approached this wrong. I--

Stephanie: You shouldn't have approached me at all.

Brooke: You don't think I have a contribution to make?

Stephanie: Write a check. That's what most people do.

Eric: You told me that wasn't enough.

Brooke: Okay, I know that I'm flawed, but maybe I have a little more
patience, a little more sympathy for people who are struggling in their lives.

Stephanie: I'm sure somewhere there's a home for wayward girls crying out for
someone just like you. I am not.

Thomas: Maybe you should go down to Dayzee's, take a vote. Ask your clients
and your employees whether they think that Brooke's millions would do them any
good or not.

Brooke: (Sighs) I-I think I went about this the wrong way.

Thomas: No, Brooke. Grandma, you should be shamed of yourself. Why aren't
you? (Scoffs) Well, I'm ashamed enough for the both of us. I'm done.

Taylor: Thomas.

(Door opens)

Taylor: Thomas.

(Door closes)

Brooke: Can I have a moment alone with Stephanie?

Stephanie: I don't want any private moments.

Eric: Give her a moment, Stephanie. You wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for
Brooke.

Stephanie: (Sighs)

Brooke: (Sighs) I'm sorry. I really messed this up.

Ridge: Emotions are really running high around here, and nobody really knows
what to say. You didn't do anything wrong.

Stephanie: Except break his heart over and over and over again. Well, at
least that's all coming to an end now.

Whip: So is that why you couldn't make it work with my cousin or with Bridget
or with anyone, because of Brooke?

Nick: Well, nautically speaking, Whip, Brooke and I have always been like
ships passing in the night.

Jackie: (Scoffs) Who's writing history now?

Nick: Yes, Mother. She's always gonna be in my life. It was true before Jack
was even born. (Sighs) I don't know. Mother, you know. Would you call us friends
or... I don't know. You've never been able to give a title to this relationship
we've had or haven't had. Anyway... it seems like the harder we tried to make
things work, the more they didn't, so we stopped trying. Things seem to work out
fine now. So I guess the lesson here, when it comes to me and Brooke, is just
when you think something should be a certain way, it's not. So... I have no
expectations and let life take its course. Cheers.

Brooke: I'm sorry for the pain that I caused to Ridge and you, everybody. I'm
truly trying to make up for it.

Stephanie: (Laughs) I think that's what you think you're doing. But you know,
Honey, the truth is, whatever evil people do or whatever good people do, they
can't be undone. And people don't change. They don't change. You and I are proof
of that.

Brooke: What about the people that work at Dayzee's, the people that you work
with every single day? Look at them. Look at how they've changed their lives day
by day.

Stephanie: Yes, and at that place, there are some success stories, but most
of it is failure and a lot of heartbreak. Some of those people never get off the
streets because of the drugs and the alcohol.

Brooke: This does not sound like the Stephanie that I know. You devoted your
life to this, and you're saying that it doesn't matter, that you don't make a
difference?

Stephanie: All I'm saying is its too late. We've made our choices, Brooke.
We've gotten what we wanted. And now we have to live with the consequences of
that.

Eric: Taylor, where's Thomas?

Taylor: Oh, I thought he would be coming back to his office.

Ridge: I take it Thomas went home?

Taylor: I don't know. If he did, can you blame him, Ridge?

Eric: (Sighs)

Taylor: I mean, why did Brooke even invite him to come to that meeting? You
saw how it affected him. He ran out of the room.

Ridge: People do the best they can, Taylor. Life isn't always appropriate. It
doesn't always stay between the lines.

Eric: This really happened, your wife and you son?

Ridge: Thomas said it did.

Eric: (Sighs)

Taylor: If Thomas said it did, it did.

Ridge: Taylor, come on. Just give him credit for telling me.

Eric: Absolutely. It makes it a lot more difficult when they hide it, more
hurtful if you're the last person to know. Well, it appears that you and I have
something in common that I never would've wished on you.

Brooke: I won't keep you much longer. I'm only asking if you'll accept the
position of president of this foundation.

Stephanie: There isn't going to be any foundation.

Brooke: It already exists.

Stephanie: Well, undo it.

Brooke: I'm not sure I can. I don't--

Stephanie: I don't want my name on it.

Brooke: It's already been named.

Stephanie: I do not want to be associated with it. And if you won't fix it,
I'll get my attorneys to do it.

Brooke: It's a charitable foundation. It's not like your name is gonna be
defamed.

Brooke: S-so you don't consent to me putting in millions of dollars into a
drug rehab center? Okay.

Stephanie: (Sighs)

Brooke: I-I shouldn't have expected you to just fall in line like that.

Stephanie: (Sighs)

Brooke: You don't have to do anything. You don't have to sign anything. You
don't have to lift a finger. I've learned a lot from you, Stephanie, through the
years. (Sighs) I've seen how you work. You're very courageous. You get things
done. You don't take no for an answer. So I can do this. I can--I can carry this
forward in your name.

Stephanie: No. No.

Brooke: No?

Stephanie: (Sighs)

Brooke: I know that you came to me a couple of weeks ago and wanted to be
friends again, and I turned you away. And I'm sorry for that. I will add that to
the long list of things that I need to atone for. But please... if you could
just find it in your heart to have that good feeling about me once again... I'm
not asking for your forgiveness. And we don't even have to be friends if you
don't want. I just--I just want to use your name. It's the only thing that I can
hang onto. It's the only thing that I trust. Please, Stephanie, just give me
this one last thing.

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